Claire Trotter, a second year Ph.D. student in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness, received a $5000 National ACSM Doctoral Research Grant from the American College of Sports Medicine Foundation.
The grant will help fund her dissertation research investigating central nervous system dysfunction in multiple sclerosis patients. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is characterized by degeneration of brain cells which alters their normal signaling patterns. Her goal is to quantify the alterations made to these signaling patterns to help aid in the more successful treatment of the disease.
Nearly 1 million US citizens are thought to be living with multiple sclerosis (MS). Despite diagnosis being on the rise, there is still a lack of mechanistic understanding of the disease.
Trotter works in the Integrative Physiology Laboratory under the direction of her Ph.D. mentor, Associate Professor Scott Davis. As an SMU senior undergraduate in 2016, she worked as a research assistant in Davis’ lab. After graduation she pursued a Master Degree in Biology from University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, and returned to SMU for her Ph.D. because of her undergraduate experience. “I was drawn to return to SMU because of the quality mentorship I had previously and the high level scientific investigation, ” she says.
The grant funder, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), advances and integrates scientific research to provide educational and practical applications of exercise science and sports medicine. The ACSM Foundation receives, administers and disburses funds to support the College’s educational, scientific and charitable purposes.